Tesla Secures Permits For Showroom In Ireland

Tesla will officially move forward with plans to open a showroom and sales center in South Dublin, Ireland.

The electric automaker will utilize a former industrial space, and turn it into the new Irish flagship location. The unit, currently known as the Sandyford Industrial Estate, will house office space, a showroom, and a repair center. The recently approved application will also allow for unrestricted sales.

Model 3

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co. Council accepted Tesla’s application and approved it unanimously. It required permission for the rezoning of the current site, along with authorization for Tesla to be able to sell vehicles from the location.

Sandyford is a familiar area for automakers, with an Audi location very near Tesla’s new site. The Tesla flagship location is near the M50 motorway, and the South Beacon Quarter.

Ireland, like many other locations globally, is pushing forward with its sustainability goals. The Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) is advocating for one in five cars to be electric by 2020. Otherwise, Ireland won’t hit its targets and could be fined up to €130m (~$138 million USD). Electric car sales in Ireland made up only a little over 0.2 percent of the overall automotive market share in 2015, with a mere 562 EVs sold. By 2020, that number must increase to 50,000 EVs, to fall within established targets.

In Ireland, a base Model S will cost €81,086 (~$86,000 USD), with the Model X starting at €110,042 (~$116,500 USD). The upcoming Model 3 will also be sold in Ireland, eventually.

The location is opening on the 26th of April. Planning was granted ages ago. The first two supercharger sites are already under construction (Birdhill and Ballacolla) both 8-bay. Ballacolla is due to open ~ May 1st. Superchargers are also planned for the M4 motorway between Dublin and Galway and a separate site in West Dublin on the M50. Tesla have also been looking for a gallery location in Dundrum Town Center (a large upscale shopping center about 2km from the new Service+ location in Sandyford).

I’d wish you didn’t take the Indo’s word for it. They’re motoring team are still on the diesel band wagon. It’s not surprise they used 2015 (the most under performing year) as a reference for plug-in sales.

They’ve been anti-EV from the very beginning with almost a satirical element about them a few years ago.

2016 sales however had 0.47% being EVs, which is no better than 2014 and so on, but ever since news of the Bolt and Model 3 came out in 2015, most potential buyers held back – until being told that the Bolt won’t be RHD and a RHD Model 3 being a distant possibility.

So this year, the first 3 months gave a plug-in share of 0.57%, which is, I think, the best result yet, given 2 years of buyer speculation in an already small market with limited choice.